Media-Whore D'Oevres



"I am SO SO UPSET to hear that JONES apparel will be shutting down the ANNE KLEIN label designed by one of America's best designers Isabel Toledo. What a fucking drag that they did not even give Isabel a chance. I'll try to figure out (as I am sure Isabel is sitting there trying to do) what the lesson is in all this, but it's such a shock to me. BUMMER. BIGTIME." (Kim Hastreiter/Papermag)

"Obama has begun to embrace positions that a generation of Democrats have been advised to avoid. The political 'textbook' calls for a relatively inexperienced first-term senator to run hawkishly. Obama, whom Clinton criticized when he said that he would negotiate directly and without preconditions with America’s adversaries, now makes it a point to mention that he would sit down with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s President. On the question of torture, which Obama unequivocally opposes, the political temptation is to signal a willingness to show no mercy to our worst enemies, in much the way that Governor Bill Clinton, in his first campaign for President, returned to Arkansas for the execution of Rickey Ray Rector, a mentally disabled death-row inmate. On the increasingly perilous subject of illegal immigration, Obama favors issuing state driver’s licenses to undocumented workers, and tells voters, 'We are not going to send twelve million people back home.' When discussing his energy plan, Obama says, 'You can’t deal with global warming without, at least, on the front end, initially, seeing probably some spike in electricity prices,' and on Social Security he proposes what is, in effect, a large tax hike. These issues all have one thing in common: Hillary Clinton’s positions are artfully vague—aimed at surviving the general election—while Obama insists that it is more important to be forthcoming." (NewYorker)

"Johnny Borrell is secretly dating Camilla Al Fayed, we can reveal. The Razorlight singer has been out a handful of times with Camilla, 22, the daughter of Harrods owner Mohammed. A source close to the couple told us: 'It's early days but they're very keen on each other.'" (3AMGirls)

"New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been receiving foreign policy briefing sessions on a wide variety of topics, providing the strongest indication yet that he is considering a run for the White House, the Huffington Post has learned. The sessions, which were confirmed by multiple sources, have been conducted with Nancy Soderberg, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a Clinton Administration foreign policy adviser. One source described her as 'Bloomberg's Condi.'" (HuffPo)

"Can Hillary turn it around? She will increase her advertising and personal campaigning in Iowa, but so will her rivals now that they smell blood. The poll’s field dates were Nov. 14-18. The last national debate, in which Hillary had something of a comeback, was on Nov. 15, right in the middle of the sampling. It is possible that her stronger performance might tip some more votes her way, and she does have one more debate before the voting. But consultant David Garth once said that the hardest thing to do in politics is change direction, and Obama’s and Edwards’s upward momentum, as well as Hillary’s slide, have gone on for three weeks now. If Hillary loses Iowa, she will not be knocked out of the race. You can’t knock a long-term front-runner out with one punch. John Kerry did knock out Howard Dea n in Iowa, but the Vermont governor was a recent front-runner with limited national recognition and a limited funding base. The more likely model is Reagan versus Ford in 1976, Bush versus McCain in 2000, Mondale versus Hart in 1984 or even Bill Clinton versus Tsongas in 1992. In these cases, you have to beat a front-runner state by state. A one-punch or one-state win doesn’t spell the end of the race, only its beginning. (And remember, in all four examples, the front-runner came from behind to win.) Hillary is strong in New Hampshire." (TheHill)

"Studios hire (Peggy Siegal) to attract Gotham glitterati and literati to screenings, cocktails and dinner parties. She's a one-woman marketing department, the queen of New York buzz, especially for small, serious films that need it most. She's been at it for three decades, but this year, there are subtle changes. Despite her hyper-sniper reputation, this is a kinder, gentler Siegal, who gives much credit for the change to her soft-spoken business partner of two years, Bryan Bantry, a Gotham entrepreneur and sometime Broadway producer who runs a thriving agency repping models, photographers, hair and makeup artists, and stylists." (Variety)

"The Nigerian government has said it will not allow the US to establish its African Command (AFRICOM) in the country, or in the wider West African region, directly opposing the opinion of senior Nigerian military officials. AFRICOM formally came into being on 1 October. However, following a meeting in Abuja on 19 November, the country's highest presidential advisory committee, the National Council of State, declared its disapproval of the command." (Janes)